Australia

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Australia
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What country is this?
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Learn the new words
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Tasmania The Great Dividing Range Mount
Kouciusko The Murray river The Darling river Lake
Macquarie
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A seven-pointed star A shield A wreath An
emu the Coat of Arms
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a dark-skinned aborigine
a reservation
a stockmana shepherda cattle driver
a prisoner a convict
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Landscapes and climate Australia is the flattest
of the continents. Its most important mountain
chain is the Great Dividing Range running down
most of the east coast the highest point is Mount
Kosciusko 2,229 m. high. The centre of the
continent is taken by the deserts. They cover
nearly 2,000 000 square kilometers. Most of the
continent is sunny most of the year The
climate is temperate in the south and the east
tropical in the north. There are few rivers in
Australia. Its best known river is the Murray.
The longest is the Darling. It is 2,736
kilometres long. Lake Macquarie in NSW is the
largest coastal lake in Australia. It covers an
area of 110 sq km. Its population is very small
(only 0.3 of the worlds population) for such a
huge country. Many people live far away from
towns in the outback. Severe droughts, floods and
cyclones happen very often on the continent. The
people suffer from T
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The flag of Australia is blue with the flag of
the UK in the left upper corner and a large
seven-pointed star in the left lower corner known
as the Commonwealth Star, representing the
federation of the colonies of Australia in 1901
the remaining half is a representation of the
Southern Cross in white with one small
five-pointed star and four larger, seven-pointed
stars.
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HISTORY The first Australian people were the
dark-skinned Aborigines, and though the coming of
the white settlers destroyed their tribal lives,
some sixty thousand (about 1 of the population)
still survive in Australia today. They may be
found in the island areas of the country. Some
live on reservations, others work as stockmen,
shepherds and cattle drivers. Some live in modern
cities but it is not really easy for them. They
have to fight for their rights. The first
Europeans to land in this country were Dutch
sailors who were blown off their course across
the Indian Ocean in the seventeenth century. They
were not impressed by what they found. In 1770 an
Englishman Captain Cook arrived into the new
country hoisted the British Flag, and Australia
became British. But his discovery was remembered
only after the American Revolution when
royalists, who had to leave the United States,
appealed to the British Colonial Office for new
colonies, in which to settle. The British
Government needed a place to send British
prisoners, too. So in 1787 over 1000 people, 850
of them were convicts, set sail to start the
first colony in Australia The national holiday,
Australia Day, is now celebrated on or near
January 26th in memory of the landing of the
British in 1788. They began to build new
settlements. The young country grew very
fast. Today Australia is an independent
federative state consisting of 6 states and 2
territories. It is a member of the Commonwealth
headed by the British Queen.
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The Coat of Arms was granted by King George V in
1912. It consists of a shield containing the
badges of the six Australian States. Above the
shield is a seven-pointed gold star. The
Supporters are native Australian animals the
red kangaroo and the emu.
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The capital of Australia Canberra is the
capital of Australia. Less than a hundred years
ago, there was nothing except sheep in Canberra.
But then Australians decided to build a capital
city.. The work began in 1913. Now, Canberra is
an international city, full of diplomats and
government offices. Its beautiful place, with
parks, lakes, big open streets and fine buildings
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A drought
A flood
A cyclone
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Geographical position Australia is located south
of Asia, between the Pacific and the Indian
Oceans. It is the worlds largest island and its
smallest continent. It is the 6th largest country
on earth, with a total area of 7,686,850 sq km.
This large area is populated by only 19 million
people The continent is south of the Equator.
It is made up of mainland Australia and of island
Tasmania to the south.
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Tasmania is small. Its the same size as England.
It is also very different from the other states.
There are no deserts in Tasmania. It often rains,
both in winter and summer. Only a half of million
people live in Tasmania, and a large part of the
island is still covered with wild, beautiful wild
forests. These forests are full of wonderful
flowers and interesting animals.